Verse 12. - The four proper names in this verse are not known in connection with the same persons elsewhere. The Septuagint translates Shaphat as "the scribe," applying the description to the foregoing Jaanai.

5:1-26 Genealogies. - This chapter gives some account of the two tribes and a half seated on the east side of Jordan. They were made captives by the king of Assyria, because they had forsaken the Lord. Only two things are here recorded concerning these tribes. 1. They all shared in a victory. Happy is that people who live in harmony together, who assist each other against the common enemies of their souls, trusting in the Lord, and calling upon him. 2. They shared in captivity. They would have the best land, not considering that it lay most exposed. The desire of earthly objects draws to a distance from God's ordinances, and prepares men for destruction.Joel the chief,.... In this and the following verse are reckoned up the principal men in the tribe of Gad, and the chief of all was Joel, another from him in the tribe of Reuben, 1 Chronicles 5:4.

and Shapham the next; the second chief man, from whom, Reland (x) conjectures, Shophan, a city in the tribe of Gad, had its name, Numbers 32:35.

and Jaanai; from whom Danjaan might be called, as Michaelis intimates, 2 Samuel 24:6.

and Shaphat in Bashan; not Shaphat the father of Elisha, according to a tradition of the Jews, mentioned by Kimchi; which is not at all probable.

(x) Palestin. Illustrat. par. 2. p. 602.